DRAGON plus RED ROCKET-X equals the DOG's BOLLOCKS ....

[Charles_Z]

Neil,

Can we get a frame grab of the hardware accelerated output vs. software rendering? I was never impressed by the old Red Rocket quality.

If this can finally match software quality output, this may be a winner.

 

[Neil W. Smith]

Hardware v. software rendering on RR-X

Hardware v. software rendering on RR-X

Neil,

Can we get a frame grab of the hardware accelerated output vs. software rendering? I was never impressed by the old Red Rocket quality.

If this can finally match software quality output, this may be a winner.

Funnily enough, that's exactly what I was going to test in the morning, Charles ... didn't have time today ... and yes, like you I've always preferred the software only version for final render out but I think that's about to change.

Not sure about passing out any frame grabs just as the moment ... we're still waiting on Graeme to deliver the new color science and Jarred and Rob are still tweaking software and firmware as we speak ... I will do a difference map of the software and hardware versions to see what I can see but from the rendering I did today I don't think the gap between software and hardware rendering is going to be any where as wide as it was with RR1 ... there's some very fine detail in the models that Ketch used in the 'Red Dress' shoot .... will take a close look at the 6K eyes and hair on both versions ... however, the danger with too much pixel peeping at this stage in the game is that we're still essentially in beta testing mode ... and if we know one thing for certain from having worked with RED since the first Oakley watch images (72 MB TIFFS each frame) came off those early cameras, things have only gotten better with the passage of time.

It's purely a subjective assessment at the moment but I have the distinct impression having graded every flavor of RED camera since day #1 on many different kinds of software and hardware that this combination of DRAGON sensor with the new Red Rocket-X card, RCX-P and DaVinci Resolve 10 is a step function up from previous iterations.

I had the pleasure of hosting Mr. Fincher and Jim in our DI theater when David was evaluating the RED for 'Buttons' ... David is both a creative genius and a very technically savvy director ... after we'd put the RED imagery through its paces, David asked some very piercing questions which Jim answered very straightforwardly and with brutal honesty ... both men agreed that the RED probably wasn't quite ready for 'Buttons' but that David would come back when things had progressed a little.

Two years later, David and Jeff were back shooting 'Social Network' on three REDs on our Lot .... and now, they're shooting 'Gone Girl' on two DRAGONs ... the reason I bring this up is that Fincher is a super smart chap and he can shoot his movies on whatever camera he wants ... the mere fact that he's chosen DRAGON to shoot 'Gone Girl' should give us all confidence that this camera and ecosystem is going to be just fine ... David would have tested the crap out of the camera system and image pipeline before signing up for it.

From our experiences last week with Ketch's project without a RR-X card and today with re-processing the 6K DRAGON files on the Red Rocket-X card, I don't think we have anything to worry about ... it's a no brainer that the speed and quality that the RR-X card brings to the 6K workflow is going to be worth the investment if you're serious about shooting on the DRAGON ... I think it'll also be true for 5K EPIC files which I started testing this evening.

Will let you know how I get on with the software/hardware comparison tomorrow ... if Jarred's cool with what comes out of the testing I'll happily share it with everyone.

Neil